Conveyer switch



Jan. 6, 1942.

s, OLSON CONVEYER SWITCH Filed June 29, 1959 JzdmZ M 553340450 a: a:sfiofvzez a Patented Jan. 6, 1942 3 PATENT OFFICE CONVEYER swrroH SamuelOlson, Chicago, Ill.

' Application June 2-9, 1939, Serial No. 281,917

3 Claims.

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a transfer or switching section of aconveyer system with the terminal portions of a plurality of feedingconveyers and a plurality of receiving conveyers associated therewith.

Fig. 2 is a detail section on an enlarged scale, taken as indicated atline 2--2 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail section taken as indicated at line 33 on Fig. 2.

For illustrating this invention, Fig. 1 shows a portion of a rollerconveyer system including a feeding conveyer A and a second feedingconveyer B which converge toward and longitudinally adjoin a widerswitching or transfer section C in abutting relation. At the oppositeend of the wide switching section a receiving or delivery conveyer D anda diverging receiving or delivery conveyer E are disposed inlongitudinally adjoining relation. It may be understood that theinvention is not limited to situations in which there are only twofeeding conveyers or only two receiving conveyers, but that a pluralityof such conveyers may be led to a common transfer point in laterallyadjacent relation to each other and thus arranged to cooperate with thewide section. The

rolls of the feeding and delivery sections, and also the rolls of thetransfer section C may be power-driven, or they may merely turn freelyon their bearings if gravity or momentum is relied upon for propellingthe loads, and for the sake of clearness and. simplicity the drawingshows the rollers merely journaled in suitable these plates are formedwith longitudinal slots 4 which engage the pins or bolts 5 bywhich theplates are carried on the side rails 3, 3 and thus permit limitedlongitudinal adjustment of the side plates thereon. If only one of theside plates is slidably adjusted, or if both plates are simultaneouslyadjusted in opposite directions, the result is to shift all the rolls Isimultaneously out'oftheir normal prependicular relation to the sideplates and swing them into angular positions parallel to each other,which will tend to cause loads moving'over the section C to travelsomewhat obliquely thereon. Thus, if the rollsare left in their normalrelation at right angles to the side plates 2, 2 as shown in full linesin Fig. 1, a load from the feeding conveyer A will continue to travel inthe same direction, straight across the rolls of section C and will bedelivered to thereceiving conveyer D at the. opposite end of thetransfer section; or loads delivered from the conveyer B will travelstraight across the transfer section to the receiving conveyer E. But ifthe rolls I be angularly adjusted to the positions indicated in dottedlines at l in Fig. 1, the loads coming from conveyer A will be deflectedand delivered to the receiving conveyer E as indicated by the arrows :t.And if the rolls l are angularly adjusted in the opposite direction, asindicated at l in Fig. 1, the loads coming from conveyer B will bedeflected from a straight course, and will travel obliquely across thesection C for delivery onto the conveyer D as indicated by the arrows 1As a convenient means for adjusting the rolls I of the transfer sectionC the drawing shows a lever B pivoted at l to a diagonally extendingcross-bar 8 of the frame structure. The pivot 1 is located midwaybetween the side rails 2, 2 and the lever is attached to these rails bymeans of angle clips 9 and pivot bolts l0 so that any swinging movementof the lever is communicated directly to the rails for shifting themsimultaneously in the opposite directions to the extent permitted bytheir slots 4. For holding the lever B and the rolls l at adjustedposition the drawing shows a locking pin I l extending removably througha hole in the lever and into a central hole l2 in an adjacent fixedmember of the frame. Holes 12* and IZ are provided to receive the pinwhen the lever is shifted to one side or the other of its middleposition for adjusting the rolls l to their angular position indicatedat I and I respectively.

Thus, by the very simple expedient of adjusting the rolls l to differentpositions, the course of travel of loads arriving from the runways A andB may be controlled so that any one of these loads may be deliveredeither to the conveyer D or to the conveyer E as desired. It may beunderstood that the runway structures may include the usual lateralguard rails, not shown, but that in most instances the travel of loadswill be controlled with suflicient accuracy so that such guard railsneed not be relied upon except as a precaution against accident.

While there is shown and described herein certain specific structureembodying the invention, it will be manifest to those skilled in the artthat various modifications and re-arrangements of the parts may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and thatthe same is not limited to the particular form herein shown anddescribed, except in so far as indicated by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a roller conveyer, a pair of narrow sections terminating side byside, a wider switching section, one end of which is at least as wide asthe combined widths of the narrow sections and permanently adjoins themboth, said switching section being composed of full length rollers eachextending from side to side of the section and 20 mounted for adjustmentat various angles to the rollers of said narrow sections, and means forso adjusting said rollers to deliver loads from the switching section toeither of the narrow sections selectively.

2. In a roller conveyer, a pair of narrow sections terminating side byside, a switching section, one end of which permanently adjoins bothnarrow sections, a pair of narrow sections terminating side by side withthe other end of the switching section permanently adjoining both ofthem, said switching section having rollers mounted for adjustment atvarious angles to the rollers of said narrow sections, and means foradjusting said rollers to transfer loads from either of the narrowsections at one end of the switching section to either of the narrowsections at the opposite end thereof selectively.

3. In a roller conveyer, a plurality of narrow sections terminating sideby side, a wider switching section, one end of which is at least as wideas the combined widths of the narrow sections and permanently adjoinsthem, said switching section being composed of, full length rollers eachextending from side to side of the section and mounted for adjustment atvarious angles, said rollers constituting the sole means controlling thedirection of travel of loads over the; switch-- ing section fordelivering loads therefrom to a selected. one of the narrow sections.

SAMUEL OLSON.

